Photograph
by mcdb
Summary: My heart skips a beat and I inhale sharply as soon as I turn the picture over. There she was, Clary, sitting on a couch with her flaming red hair in a braid, her emerald eyes shining with happiness and a bright smile on her face. She looked stunning as always. Beside her was a little girl that looked almost like an exact replica of her, but with golden eyes. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: Cassie Clare owns everything!**

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I run a tired hand through my hair as I roll out of bed. I walk into my en suite and start my daily routine. Routine; it was pretty much the definition of my life. I'd get up, take a shower and brush my teeth, eat, work, eat, then sleep, repeating the cycle every day. It'd been like this since she'd left. I stopped going out, stopped talking to my friends - I basically stopped living life. I just saw no point now that she was gone.

As I step out of the en suite, I dress quickly before I make my way downstairs. It was Saturday, so unfortunately for me, I didn't have anything to do today except sit around. I quickly whip up some breakfast; eggs and bacon. I try to think up some things to do today, and remember that I'd forgotten to get the mail yesterday. Once I'm done eating, I place my dirty dishes in the sink before making my way to the front door.

Stepping out of my house, I walk down the drive towards the mailbox to grab the mail. I rifle through it as I walk back towards the house. One letter catches my eye and I inhale sharply as soon as I see the familiar scrawl and hurry inside.

Taking a seat at the kitchen counter, I flip the envelope in my hands a few times uncertainly. _Should I open it?_ I rip it open quickly, knowing I'd regret it if I didn't. There's a note and a picture inside. I decide to read the note first, my heart beat beginning to speed up with anticipation and fear.

_Dear Jace,_

_It's me, Clary. You remember me, don't you? I'd like to think so, considering we'd not only been together for one year, but also known each other our whole lives. I still can't believe your decision. I can't believe you threw it all away. And just for what? Your freedom? Your reluctance for commitment? A year, Jace! A year! I thought I'd meant a bit more than that to you, but I guess not._

_Anyways, the purpose of this letter isn't to guilt you. You made your decision and there's nothing I can do about it. No, this letter is to tell you about her. She's adorable. She has my bright red hair and nose, but she has your smile and your eyes. She's got your beautiful golden eyes. It used to be hard for me to look at her. It'd remind me of the heartache you caused, but then I think, 'If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have her.' So I thank you for that. I still can't believe you didn't want anything to do with her. She's amazing. We just celebrated her fourth birthday._

_I moved out of mom's and Luke's a year after she was born. I felt like such a bother there. It was hard the first year, but we managed. Sometimes, things got difficult, but we'd get through it. We're much more stable now. We live in a cute two-story house with white picket fence, just like what we used to talk about._

_I was only sixteen, Jace! I was absolutely terrified, but I thought I'd have you by my side to help me. How wrong was I? I laugh at my own stupidity whenever I think about it. But I'm sure partying and getting wasted is way better than holding a girl's hand while she's in labour. I was crushed, Jace! Absolutely broken, but I guess the past is the past, right? Can't change it now._

_I've learnt to get over it, to move on and live my life with our daughter, Amelia Rose. I still don't approve of your decision, but I've accepted it. I hope you're well._

_Wishing you the best, _

_Clary_

After reading over the letter once more, I release my iron tight grip and reach for the picture. My heart skips a beat and I inhale sharply as soon as I turn the picture over. There she was, Clary, sitting on a couch with her flaming red hair in a braid, her emerald eyes shining with happiness and a bright smile on her face. She looked stunning as always. Beside her was a little girl that looked almost like an exact replica of her, but with golden eyes.

She was beautiful. She had a cute little smile on her face that looked distantly familiar. I then remember Clary's words, _she has your smile. _I frown as I realize that I hadn't smiled in so long that I'd forgotten my own smile. I hadn't smiled or been the least bit happy since she'd left. Correction, since I'd pushed her away.

Clary and I had been best friends when we were younger. We'd been next door neighbours since we'd been born, though I was a year older. Our parents were best friends so it was only fitting that we'd be best friends as well. We'd have sleepovers, play dates, everything. It was great. Clary was the best friend I could've asked for, and I could only hope she thought the same about me.

However, our friendship started to get a bit rocky when I started middle school. The year age gap meant that I was always a grade older, so during my first year of middle school, Clary was in her last year of elementary. This meant that we went to two different schools, which was new to me, since I'd almost always had Clary with me.

I had friends other than Clary though. Alec was one of my closest friends. I could even call him my best friend, but that title was saved for Clary. I met Alec on my first day of kindergarten. We both didn't know anyone, so we decided to play together and we've been friends ever since.

Middle school was when people started to date and were considered to be somewhat mature enough to go out with friends without parental supervision. Middle school was when I began to hang out with people other than Clary. There was an underage club called Pandemonium that a bunch of kids from school would go to. It was usually where my friends and I hung out until curfew. I spent so much time with my friends that days would go by before I'd speak to Clary. Somehow, being in middle school had caused Clary to become less important on my list of priorities. We drifted apart so much that it wouldn't faze me to not see her for a few days time.

She confronted me about it during Christmas break. She was crying, yelling at me about how I didn't care and that she was sick of being put last. Being the jerk I was, I yelled back, telling her that she was a loser and that she was too much of a baby to hang out with. She ran out of my house after I said that, but not before whispering that we weren't friends anymore, a heartbroken look on her face. My heart broke when I saw that look on her face. I felt guilty, but my pride just didn't allow me to run after her and apologize. We didn't speak again until three years later when she became a freshman at St. Xavier's.

I was walking down the hall when I accidentally bumped into someone. I instantly recognized her unmistakable fiery red hair. As soon as I helped her up, our gazes had locked and a chill of pleasure went down my spine as I looked into her beautiful emerald eyes. From that moment, I made it my top priority to get her to forgive me.

That year, I spent the majority of my time with her. By the end of the year, she'd forgiven me and we'd become best friends. Partway through the next year, we began to date. I was so happy and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to manage to get an amazing girl like her. On our one year anniversary, we took the next step, which was when Amelia was conceived.

Once she'd found out about the pregnancy and told me, I'd flipped out on her. I told her that it was her fault and that it was a mistake. I told her about how I regret falling in love with her and that she had to get rid of the baby. I told her that I wish that I'd never met her. Those were the biggest lies I'd ever told and it was those lies that cost me Clary. She left after I yelled at her, tears rushing down her face. I never saw her again. People said that she'd moved across the country to live with her grandparents and others said that she dropped out of school. When I got fed up with hearing about her, I learned to tune out any mention of her.

I tried to forget about her and forget about the situation that we'd gotten ourselves into. I began to party again; drinking and hooking up with girls. I was basically a man-whore jerk who didn't have a care in the world. I thought it was what I wanted, seeing as it'd been the reason why I was reluctant to claim my role as a parent. I was wrong though.

Clary and my daughter - my family - they are everything I need and could ever want in my life. The drinking, the clubbing - it was all I'd known before Clary had come back into my life and turned it around. I was so stupid to even think that I didn't need them.

It wasn't until graduation that Alec took me aside and basically told me to 'get my shit together.' That was the moment that I finally started to realize the mess that I'd gotten myself into.

Once I cleaned my act up, I searched all over the city for Clary. I spent months looking for her before someone told me that she'd moved, but that they didn't know where except that it wasn't anywhere near New York. I was so desperate to find her that I got my parents to call her parents only for them to tell me that she'd asked to have minimal contact from those in New York and that she would contact us if she ever wanted to talk. I continued my search for another month before I gave up. Clary was smart. If she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be.

I tried to move on, engaging in more serious relationships, but they never worked out. My heart wanted Clary and she was the only one my heart would settle for. I couldn't believe that I was almost twenty-two and still pining for my ex-girlfriend. It was honestly pathetic and I tried to forget her. I was doing pretty well actually, besides the part of becoming somewhat of a zombie. I learned to cope with her absence, but that didn't mean I was happy or would ever be happy about it.

Now here I was, sitting at my kitchen counter, the first form of communication with Clary that I'd had in four years in my hand. I let out a breath, flipping the picture back and forth before grabbing the envelope to put it away. Just as I move to put it away, a little scrawl on the back of the picture catches my eye on the bottom right corner. Looking closely, I see a phone number with two simple words beneath it.

_Call me._

With shaky hands, I grab my cellphone from beside me and begin to dial the number. I bring the phone to my ear and bounce my leg nervously as I listen to the rings. The rings stop and I hear a click, alerting me that someone has picked up.

I nearly fall off my chair as I hear a familiar voice on the other end.

_"Hello?"_

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**A/N:**

**Hello! **

**So if anyone has read my other story, Unwanted, I mentioned that I had to write a short story for an English project and TADA! Here it is!**

**I wasn't very into this story, but I decided I'd share it with you guys to see what yall think about it.**

**I summarized the story for my sister and she started tearing up... I was like, 'wtf?!' But yeah, it was super funny.**

**Anyways, I hope yall liked it!**

**Review?**

**Thanks!**

**- MC**

**PS. I'm hoping to update Unwanted sometime this week. If you haven't already read it, check it out!**


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